Some recent fungi finds

‘Tis the time for fungi.

Here’s a few I have found on some recent walks. I do not guarantee the identifications. I always find fungi hard to ID, even down to what families they belong sometimes. The fruiting bodies can appear very different as they degenerate. Many different species can appear very similar. I gave up long ago with the Mycenas. Happy for anyone to suggest otherwise to my efforts…

Stereum Ostrea - Golden Curtain Crust

This large, oyster-like, orange fungus grows on old logs and branches. There are some spots in Uralla Reserve at Trafalgar where this stunning, photogenic species is quite abundant.

Armilaria sp (luteobubalina?) - Honey Fungus

Armilaria grows on the wood of living trees and is an aggressive plant parasite. Often seen growing on lawns and nature strips and garden mulch (this image was taken in McGlone Rd Drouin), the fungus will be in association with the roots of a nearby tree or shrub.

Pycnoporus coccineus - Scarlet Bracket

This small, common orange bracket is found growing on dead branches on the ground. Turn it over to see the stunning scarlet red underside of tiny pores. Scarlet Brackets are not hard to find in our district – this one was at Rokeby Crossover Regional Park.

Clavaria amoena - Yellow Club (or Yellow Coral)

Often seen growing in moss beds where the yellow contrasts brilliantly with the green. It grows in the soil. This one at Uralla was barely 3-4cm tall but it can reach 10cm at times.

Boletellus obscurecoccineus – Rhubarb Bolete

This Bolete is not particularly common and so is always a delight to come across, usually in a eucalypt woodland. This was at Edward Hunter Reserve in Moe recently.

The variety of fungi is astounding…

Just need to live a little longer!

Cobra (Superb) Greenhood

I’ve posted on this orchid previously but it is such a delight to come across Pterostylis grandiflora that I reckon it deserves another mention.

Map Credit: Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria – vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au

The Cobra Greenhood is listed Endangered in the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act. You could say it is a good Gippsland orchid. In recent years it seems to be disappearing from some locations where it was regularly found. It is also found in Tasmania, New South Wales and southern Queensland and often has the alternative common name of Superb Greenhood.

I found this one recently in Uralla Reserve, Trafalgar, where it was growing as a single plant. I haven’t seen a ‘colony’ of P. grandiflora for some time. In this district Cobra Greenhoods are usually found in flower from May to August. It tends to grow in shady woodland habitat from the southern slopes of the Great Divide right down to the coast.

Despite its rarity, the Cobra Greenhood is often grown by orchid enthusiasts with relative ease (compared to many other terrestrial orchids

House Sparrow

The ubiquitous House Sparrow, Passer domesticus, is sometimes described as the most common bird in the world. Sub-species and various races of the House Sparrow are found on every continent except Antarctica. Introduced to Melbourne in 1863 by the very misguided Victorian Acclimatization Society, the species is now found in all states of Australia except WA where it is a declared pest.

The House Sparrow has a long association with human habitation and now is almost always found closely connected to human activity rather than in the wild. Because of its familiarity, the House Sparrow is often said to represent vulgarity, lewdness and even lust.

Often referred to as a vector for disease, the bird can indeed carry a myriad of pathogens that might cause communicable diseases. It is generally believed though, that transference to humans is an extremely low possibility. The House Sparrow is responsible for driving out native birds and for being a nuisance by preferring to construct untidy nests in crevices in our buildings. In some places they are considered an agricultural pest. It can be argued though that the House Sparrow cleans up our food scraps that might attract other pests – rodents – and that their diet includes many species of annoying insects.

Some recent Australian research shows, like ‘the canary in the coal mine’, that blood-lead levels in House Sparrows were an indicator of blood-lead levels in children. The study was conducted in Broken Hill in New South Wales and Mount Isa in Queensland, where blood-lead levels in children is a major concern.

The results were remarkably accurate with blood-lead levels in the birds correlating almost exactly with the blood-levels in the children. The research highlights that there often is a close connection between human and animals, particularly in our urban environments.

Here’s an amusing description of the great sparrow war of Shanghai in 1958 – the sparrows won!

Trim Greenhood

The Trim Greenhood, Pterostylis concinna, is a small greenhood orchid that is endemic to south-east Australia. It flowers in winter and sometimes grows in large colonies. Some reference say it grows in a variety of habitats but generally prefers sandy soils in moist, grassy woodlands. (I think the first trim I saw was growing on a mossy rock!) These images are of a small colony I found in the old coastal country of the Langwarrin Flora and Fauna Reserve recently. 

Trims are said to grow as tall as 20cm but these were barely 10cm and not easy to see in the surrounding grasses. 

 One of the Trim Greenhood identifying features is the notched labellum. 

You might have to look hard to see it. 

‘Concinna’ means ‘pretty’, ‘neat’ or ‘elegant’. Yep, that’ll do.

Superb Lyrebird

Over the years, much has been written about the lyrebird in all sorts of places. For an interesting perspective of the early research into lyrebird ecology you could hardly do worse than visit The Iconic Lyrebird page of the Victorian Collections website.

I enjoyed about 5 minutes of being up close and personal to a Superb Lyrebird at Mt Worth State Park very recently.

There were a couple of birds calling within close proximity and eventually one broke cover and strolled right past me as though I wasn’t present.

Early settlers allotted all sorts of names to this new bird: pheasant, lyre-pheasant, lyre-tailed pheasant, native or wood-pheasant and eventually Lyrebird. Strangely, the bird apparently never does hold its tail erect in the classic lyre shape depicted in many early drawings.

The genus ‘menura’ = ‘moon tail’ and the species ‘novaehollandiae’ = ‘new holland’ an old name for Australia. Thus, the Superb Lyrebird, Menura novaehollandiae is the Australian moon-tailed pheasant-like bird. I can’t quite see it but ostensibly the outer tail markings are meant to look like the crescents of the moon.

In 2020, researchers from Latrobe University found that lyrebirds displace an average of 155 tonnes of earth and leaf litter per hectare in one year earning the bird the title of ecosystem engineer.

The Superb Lyrebird is largely a solitary bird and bushfire is one of its greatest threats. In January 2020, during a bushfire at Wollombi in NSW, at least 11 birds congregated at a dam for refuge. There’s a remarkable image and story on an ABC News website.

Another informative ABC article by Dr Ann Jones of What the Duck fame, sorts some fact from fiction in relation to lyrebird mimicry.

The Superb Lyrebird is relatively common in our wet forest regions of south-eastern Victoria and southern NSW. However, given climate change and land clearing processes, there is some concern for this iconic bird’s secure status.

 

Puffballs

The variety of puffball mushrooms is very broad. Some grow on stalks, some don’t. Some are large (2m circumference, 20Kg) others are tiny. They grow in rainforests and in arid regions. Some grow singly, others in clusters. 

 Puffballs do not have a disc-cap and spore-bearing gills: they consist of a spherical-shaped sac that contains the spore within. Some have a hard outer layer that eventually decays or peels back to expose the spores to the elements. Others have a small opening in the top of the cap through which the spores are ejected upon contact. Most (all?) are saprophytic: they grow on dead organic matter.

Pisolithus sp - Horse Dung fungus

Pisolithus species have a hard outer skin that slowly erodes away exposing the spores. These puffballs are often found protruding through hard gravelly ground. Because of their appearance, they have the common name Horse Dung Fungi. There is some evidence of some examples protruding through a sealed road! 

Geastrum sp - Earth Stars

Earth Star fungi belong to the Geastrum group of puffballs. Earth Stars have a double layer of tissue. The outer layer splits and peels backwards to expose the puffball with the spores inside. In some species, the outer layer curls back and makes firm contact with the ground sufficient enough to raise the spore-sac several centimetres above ground level. The elevated position improves the process of spreading the spores. 

Lycoperdon sp - Pear-shaped Puffballs

Lycoperdon puffballs often begin with a covering of fine outer spines that eventually drop off and leave a smooth-skinned spherical sac with a hole in the centre. Contact from an animal, even an insect or a raindrop causes the spores to be ejected through the aperture. (‘Lyco’ = wolf and ‘perdon’ = to pass wind, so we have the wolf f..t mushroom – who says mycologists don’t have a sense of humour?) 

 There are numerous factual, historical, cultural and mythological stories relating to puffballs. Each puffball can emit millions, even trillions of spores. Cherokee Indians used the spores to help heal sores and burns. Legend has it that Earth Stars were stars that had fallen to the Earth during a supernatural event. (No detail is ‘spored’ when an ‘ethnomycologist’ goes to work!) 

 The fungi kingdom is amazing.

White-fronted Chat

On the western edge of West Gippsland is Westernport Bay and it affords less attractive beaches and vistas than its counterpart Port Philip Bay. Instead of golden sands and caravan parks, we get saltmarshes, mangroves and mudflats, which may not sound alluring to us but are fantastic for a range of unique creatures. Stockyard Point is an excellent place for certain waders and tidal birds. In the warmer months it is frequented by sandpipers, stints and knots that have migrated from Siberia and the Arctic. When I went there in June it still had a hundred or more Pied Oystercatchers, a dozen uncommon Australian Tern, and a flock of the New Zealand migrant, the Double-banded Plover.

Bass River Mouth NCR

Nearby is historic Bass and the Bass River Mouth Nature Conservation Reserve which opens out to a saltmarsh covered in Shrubby Glasswort that is green in summer but when members of the Friends of Drouin’s Trees bird survey team visited this week, it had turned to a uniform autumnal red, interspersed with coastal Saltbush and Tussock-grass.

Glasswort habitat

Perfect habitat for the Striated Fieldwren, the Australian Pipit and the White-fronted Chat.

L to R: Striated Fieldwren, Australian Pipit, White-fronted Chat

There are three very beautiful chats in inland Australia – called simply Yellow Chat, Orange chat and Crimson Chat.

The White-fronted Chat is also a striking bird, especially the male, and small flocks flit through the coastal saltmarsh foraging for insects. They love sitting on wire fences and low bushes and their ‘tang’ call sounds like someone flicking a rubber band. They are also found in inland areas. I have seen them in lignum stands and on salt pans in Northern Victoria.

Chat species are quite cosmopolitan. Most world-wide chats are placed in the thrush, warbler or flycatcher families. The lineage of Australia’s chats however places them very strangely with the honeyeaters. They are insectivorous and any nectar feeding attributes of Australia’s chats have long disappeared. The origin of the common name ‘chat’ for the Australian birds seems to be lost in antiquity.

Great little bird though!

Thanks Geoff